1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to client-server network systems. More specifically, the present invention is a client-server network system for securely managing access to and use of programmable electronic display devices (PEDD) and display systems by remote-client users. The client-server network of the present invention embodies an Internet/Web-enabled enterprise network system comprising client-server hardware, network system administrative and operating software and application support services, server-side and client-side application software, Internet/Web communication means, and security and access control means, which enable novel enterprise network system resources, workflow processes and business methods for securely transmitting, storing, manipulating validating and exhibiting graphical display content (GDC) visual images on remote PEDD and display systems anywhere in the world.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Client-server networks are known in the art. A typical client-server network provides a range of functional capabilities for creating and removing user accounts for performing data file management and communication such as transferring information between network clients, operating system software, applications, and data file backup and version control; and security means for controlling access and use by authorized network users thereof. These and other client-server network system capabilities may be provided by commercially available network operating systems and support software; however, the specific uses and purposes of these client-server network system relate to automating common business practices such as accounting, purchasing, manufacturing, inventory control, shipping, and so forth. Illustratively, prior art client-server networks teach apparatus, uses and means which construe advantages and benefits within the common weal of business information systems (BIS) and management information systems (MIS) well-described and well-understood in the art.
Client-server networks that operate Web-enabled applications also are known in the art. A typical Web-enabled client-server network provides means for client users to make use of resources and capabilities provided by Web servers using commercially available Web browsers such as Internet Explorer® or Firefox®, to name but two for purposes of example only. In general, the specific uses and purposes of these Web-enabled client-server networks is not exclusive to a class of users based on specific criteria such as common commercial goals, shared workflow processes and shared task management, and therefore not limiting to a user class based on the aforesaid criteria. Illustratively, prior art Web-enabled client-server networks teach apparatus, uses and means which construe advantages and benefits to a broad, non-exclusive class of users.
Programmable electronic display devices (PEDD) and display systems also are known in the art. A PEDD display system typically comprises an electronic display board that produces visual images by means of a grid of small light-emitting elements such as LEDs, LCDs, and the like; data handling means for managing transfer and storage of digital data files containing graphical content for display as visual images on an electronic display board; and control means for converting digital data files containing graphical content into control signals and output image data to produce visual images on an electronic display board for viewing by a viewing party or public.
PEDD display systems are commonly sited near public venues where the visual images they exhibit may be viewed simultaneously by large numbers of people in groups, such as at sporting events, or sequentially by smaller groups of people or individuals such as near transit terminals, escalators and powered walkways as well as near promenades and thoroughfares alongside roads and highways. PEDD display systems provide a valuable service to the public since they can provide timely or time-critical information such as stock and commodity prices, traffic and weather conditions, hazard alerts, and similar important information. PEDD display systems also are broadly and effectively used for presenting advertising, marketing and entertainment messages and similar such information to the public.
The graphical content that can be displayed on PEDD display systems is technology-dependent and generally limited by the means used to produce visual images on the electronic display board, as well as by the control means employed to manage digital data files containing graphical content and convert them into visual images on an electronic display board. Early prior art PEDD display systems consisted of a matrix or grid of small light-emitting elements which were turned on and off in simple patterns to produce text messages and primitive graphic images for viewing by the public. Depending on the capabilities of control means employed, these early prior art PEDD display systems were also capable of producing simple dynamic graphical effects such as paging, scrolling and primitive animations. Later in the development of the art, PEDD display systems employed more advanced means of producing visual images including the use of LED and LCD technology as light emitting elements, which enabled more complex and sophisticated visual images to be displayed on electronic display boards such as multi-tonal color graphics and video animations, for purposes of example.
Continuing improvements in the art have produced PEDD display systems that are increasingly larger in scale and more powerful with respect to the size, complexity and sophistication of visual images that can be displayed. The current art provides for PEDD display systems that can display near continuous-tone graphics, dynamic combinations of text and images, complex animations, recorded video sequences and live video streams, as well as real-time critical information such as hazard and weather alerts.
Improvements in the methods and practice of producing PEDD display systems, as well as advances in the sophistication and complexity of graphical content that can be displayed, have created greater acceptance and increasing demand by the public for use of PEDD display systems, as well as a concomitant increase in the volume of images that users want to display. However, as the art has advanced and the graphical content that can be displayed has become more sophisticated, the digital data files containing graphical content have increased in size and complexity and the number and types of digital data file formats (e.g., MOV, AVI, WMF, etc.) used to produce graphical content have proliferated. These trends create a number of barriers to ready access and use of PEDD display systems that hinder satisfying a burgeoning public demand such as limited cognizance of PEDD display system site, availability and use restrictions; restricted data transfer rates resulting in delayed transmission of large digital data files; increased complexity of data file management and manipulation and a corresponding increase in burden on data management resources; expanded need for data storage capacity and maintenance; and similar such practical requirements which must be addressed to ensure public demand can be met and the art may continue to advance. It would therefore be desirable to develop means and methods providing practical solutions in overcoming the barriers to access and use of PEDD display systems resulting from these trends.
Unfortunately, prior art PEDD display systems embody means with inherent limitations and disadvantages in overcoming the aforesaid barriers hence failing to provide practical solutions to these and other problems. Prior art PEDD display systems typically comprise unitary apparatus embodying a solitary electronic display board and discrete board controller having dedicated control means. Said dedicated control means typically allow only a single authorized user, such as a PEDD display owner or operator, to access and operate a solitary PEDD display system. This inherent limitation was intentional by design: a principal objective in the design and implementation of dedicated control means is to provide device security by restricting access to a few knowledgeable users. The prior art thus produced a plethora of discrete board controllers and dedicated control means as various manufacturers produced unitary PEDD display systems in the absence of accepted commercial practices or standards and in accordance with private commercial interests and goals. Accordingly, prior art PEDD control means employ dissimilar apparatus, means and methods in providing display capabilities, as well as variable display configurations, scale and aspect ratio, and other dissimilarities that affect how display content may be provided, managed, manipulated, transmitted and ultimately exhibited as visual images for viewing. Moreover, prior art PEDD system control means employed by one device may operate by specialized methods including commands, control functions, protocols, utilities and tools that are unusable or inoperable when applied to other PEDD system control means employed by a different device due to differences in operating platform and operating system software, support hardware, the technology employed to produce visual images on an electronic display board, the size and aspect ratio of the electronic display board, and similar differences. Additionally, prior art PEDD control means were not designed with the object of allowing ready communication between any two or more PEDD display systems for purposes of file sharing, or for conversant coordination of exhibition schedules, or for coordination of display content across a plurality of PEDD display systems to optimize presentation of visual images to a viewing party or public. Nor does the obvious workaround of simply transferring digital data files containing graphical content prepared for display on a first PEDD display system to a second PEDD display system prove practicable, since discrete programmable control means employed were not designed with the object of easily allowing graphical content data file transfer between devices and since the inherent differences between PEDD operating characteristics still obtain, with the result that graphical content prepared for use with one PEDD display system may not match the use requirements of a second PEDD display system. These inherent limitations of prior art PEDD system control means not only present barriers to communication between devices but also exacerbate the difficulties in access and use of PEDD display systems sited in foreign countries, since there is no common set of tools or means useful and efficacious in overcoming the barriers of language, use restrictions, data communications protocols, and the like, with the result that each prior art PEDD display system and discrete control means thereof must be specially adapted for use. It would therefore be desirable to develop means and methods providing practical solutions in overcoming these aforesaid inherent limitations and disadvantages of the prior art.
An outgrowth of the greater acceptance and demand for access and use of PEDD display systems, as well as of the advances in the sophistication and complexity of the types of graphical content that can be displayed, is a proliferation of related workflow tasks including: creation of graphical display content; transfer and storage of graphical content digital data files; validation, approval, disapproval and/or modification of graphical content submitted for exhibition; recording offer of sale, acceptance of sale, and execution of sale of PEDD display system use; scheduling graphical content data files for display and coordinating display times across a plurality of PEDD display systems sited in remote locations; manipulation and conversion of graphical content digital data files into output image data to produce visual images for exhibition; and access and control of PEDD display systems to communicate operating status, to perform configuration updates and maintenance, to request diagnostic and error information and similar administrative and operational purposes. It would therefore be desirable to provide means and methods addressing the proliferation of workflow tasks such as automated coordination of workflow tasks, task management and communication, and task status reporting and notification.
The aforesaid proliferation of workflow tasks has resulted in the creation of specialized roles among PEDD display system users who need on-demand secure access to PEDD display system capabilities to perform tasks quickly and efficiently. PEDD display system users with specialized roles include display content creators such as graphics designers, commercial artists and animators; display content providers such as advertisers and marketers, PEDD display system operators such as owners and administrators and sales specialists, among others. Prior art PEDD display systems have provided no means for on-demand secure access to PEDD display system capabilities by a plurality of users having specialized roles, since this was not an object in the design and manufacture of prior art devices and since proliferation of workflow tasks and the resultant specialization of user roles was not foreseen. Additional roles for role based systems include: authorities submitting information like an AMBER ALERT, weather emergencies, homeland security alerts, police emergencies, any of which might be targeted at affected areas (for example a ZIP code) with an opt-in model to cause display. It would therefore be desirable to provide means and methods that support specialized user roles and requirements thereof, such as providing on-demand secure access to PEDD display system capabilities thereby enabling users to perform specialized role tasks quickly and efficiently and granting use rights based on user role requirements.
A further outgrowth of the greater acceptance and demand for access and use of PEDD display systems is the proliferation of site locations where visual images can be exhibited, which together with proliferation of workflow tasks and specialization of user roles has produced workflow restrictions and limitations that impede the ability of PEDD display system operators to offer use to the largest number of potential customers and for PEDD display system users to perform workflow tasks most efficiently and thereby to make use of PEDD display systems most effectively. In the prior art, PEDD display system owners or their subordinates performed all use tasks by direct intervention, such as loading graphical content digital data files into device memory or on-board data storage for exhibition, performing requested changes to device operating schedules, and revising graphical content scheduled for exhibition such as by substitution or modification of data files. Once made, all such changes and modifications must be communicated to PEDD display system users by separate action, such as by telephone or email, since there is no means to automatically notify users that workflow tasks such as requested changes to graphical content data files have been performed. Moreover, since PEDD display system customers who lease use of PEDD display time, such as advertisers, lack direct access to PEDD display system capabilities they are excluded from the scheduling process and made captive participants in an unreliable change communication process, which leads to misunderstandings and errors that result in iterative actions to complete requested changes and modifications with all the inherent inefficiencies thereof. Likewise, graphical content creators are barred from transmitting graphical content data files directly to PEDD display systems when simple substitutions are requested; notwithstanding that PEDD display system operators may have initiated the requested substitution. The same restrictions and limitations apply to review and approval workflow processes for vetting new graphical content for exhibition, resulting in the same inherent inefficiencies. It would therefore be desirable to provide means and methods that enable users to directly access PEDD display system capabilities to perform workflow and use tasks without requiring intervention by PEDD display system operators. It is also desirable to provide means of automatic notification of workflow task requests, task status and completion.
Yet another outgrowth of the greater acceptance and demand for access and use of PEDD display systems is the need for knowledgeable intermediaries between PEDD display system operators, who sell lease-use of their display systems, and lease-use buyers such as advertisers and marketers. The need for knowledgeable intermediaries has driven creation of the specialized role of sales consultants, who transact agreements between lease-use sellers and lease-use buyers. Currently, lease-use agreements are transacted directly between PEDD display system operators and their customers. But greater acceptance of PEDD display systems as a developing communication channel to the public, as well as the proliferation of PEDD display system locations, has created demand for coordination of lease-use operation across a plurality of PEDD display system sites, such as for an advertising campaign, based on value criteria such as PEDD site location, time of exhibition, iterations of images during exhibition time, cost of lease-use purchase, potential number of viewers, and similar criteria. It therefore becomes difficult for lease-use buyers to orchestrate coordinated lease-use operation across a plurality of PEDD display system sites, since they may lack knowledge or insight regarding the aforesaid value criteria. Furthermore, portions of the plurality of PEDD display system sites selected for coordinated exhibition of visual images may be owned by different PEDD operators, who may be market competitors, and agreements for lease-use operation must be separately transacted, each producing separate transaction documents including records of sale, invoice, payment and credit. Thus, knowledgeable intermediaries such as sales consultants provide valuable service in transacting agreements between PEDD lease-use sellers and buyers, particularly in effecting coordinated use across a plurality of PEDD display system site locations, but the same restrictions and limitations of access to PEDD display systems applies to them with similarly resultant inefficiencies in performing workflow tasks. It would therefore be desirable to provide automated means of coordinating access and use of PEDD display systems across a plurality of site locations. It is also desirable to provide means of automating transactions of PEDD display system lease-use agreements between sellers and buyers including automating the production, dissemination and recording of transaction documents.
Additional consideration in the greater acceptance and demand for access and use of PEDD display systems is the lack of automated means to acquire PEDD device status and operating history such as current configuration, run-time and error logs, audit trails, and similar data for purposes of generating operational and status reports or identifying service issues. The current art provides for such reports in some instances but each such report must be separately and manually produced at the request of the lease-use customer by the PEDD display system owner/operator, who may charge a service fee, and which may impose significant time and cost burden on lease-use customers particularly in cases of coordinated use across a plurality of PEDD display system site locations. Such imperfect reporting means in the prior art makes it difficult for lease-use customers to ensure that graphic content scheduled for exhibit on any given PEDD display system actually occurred according to agreement with expected value received. It would therefore be desirable to provide means and methods that enable PEDD display system users including lease-use customers to automatically acquire PEDD display system status and operating history reports on-demand.
In summation, the current art is generally dependent on manual or conventional means of performing and communicating workflow tasks and transacting lease-use agreements in providing access to and use of PEDD display system capabilities to the public including mail, email, telephone, voicemail, paper records, and the like. As a result, workflow processes in the creation, modification, approval and exhibition of graphical display content are slow and inefficient; means to organize PEDD display system users into classes or groups based on a common set of goals, or on specialized roles and tasks, or on a coordinated task management methodology is absent; PEDD display system time scheduling and use tasks are unnecessarily difficult to perform; broadcast of time-critical messaging is delayed; coordinated use across a plurality of PEDD display system site locations is unnecessarily complicated; the transaction of agreements between lease-use buyers and sellers is impeded; and PEDD display system operational and status reports are difficult to acquire and burdensome to process.
A novel approach to address the aforesaid deficiencies of means and methods in the prior art is needed urgently to continue to satisfy public demand and thereby ensure continuing development of the art. Means and methods novel and efficacious must embody automated tools provided to PEDD display system users that: (1) eliminate barriers to ready access and use of PEDD display systems to satisfy burgeoning public demand; (2) eliminate restrictions and limitations that impede users in performing workflow tasks most efficiently and in making use of PEDD display systems most effectively; (3) provide on-demand secure access and use of PEDD display system capabilities to an exclusive class of users based on specialized user roles; (4) automate workflow processes in the creation and approval of graphical content created for exhibition on PEDD display systems, in transacting lease-use agreements, and in providing direct access and use of PEDD display system capabilities to users based on specialized roles; (5) automate workflow process task management, task action and task status notification among a plurality of PEDD display system users having a common set of goals; (6) automate communication between a plurality of PEDD display system users in performing workflow tasks in achieving a common set of goals; and (7) automate means for producing and disseminating PEDD display system operational and status reports. Additionally, consideration and accommodation of the following aspects must be included: dynamic building of content to fit displays of various sizes and configurations; opt-in models for receiving published information (e.g., AMBER ALERTS, emergency news, etc. that are targeted at applicable areas or audiences; ability to control multiple different types of players and displays (LED, LCD, etc.); ability to manage content distribution at different levels including adding/removing content at different levels; ability to have unique schedules at a display level yet be able to create sales across groups of displays and even schedule content in even more unique groups for distribution. This includes the ability to schedule content, but not the ability to control overall scheduling of display, rather only the portion or fraction of time allocated; ability to interrupt schedule from control system for “moments of exclusivity” by switching to an alternative schedule/content for emergency use or other purposes, which is controlled at a local player level by physical or programmatic interface. Other concepts to consider and accommodate include: controlling different types of players: V-Net, V-Play, V-1500, V-7000); hosted/non-hosted appliances of site controllers and/or aggregators; bit torrent type technology; push and pull communications; security, role-based and/or rights controlled; workflow, notifications, and task management; business, invoicing, and online sales of time slots; reporting POP; dynamic content, data services (DDS); system restrictions for compliance; keyframe, extranet and processes; and configurations, auto-updating, and diagnostic functions.